Oppression By Association
by BraverLeonheart
Summary: Fresh out of Auror training, Harry is shocked when a call from the Accidental Magic Reversal and Alteration Squad leads him back to a place he never thought he'd visit again; Number 4, Privet Drive.
1. Return to Privet Drive

**A/N:** Hi everyone, and welcome to my new story. This one is in the process of being written, and will probably be around 7-8 chapters long, I've not fully decided yet. I've got ideas for probably that many anyway, and more keep cropping up. It was written for the SIYE challenge entitled "Dudley's Turn". I would outline the challenge, but actually, I believe this story will stand on its own without the challenge, so I'm only using it as a rough guideline anyway. I'd rather you enjoy the piece without having to worry about if I'm hitting every aspect of the challenge.

I'd like to thank my Beta, as usual, seekers_destiny from SIYE, for looking over this in double quick time. I hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter or anything you see here, beyond the plot, and I'm definitely making no money from this.

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**Oppression by Association**

**Chapter 1 – Return to Privet Drive**

"Sometimes, I wish we never cracked these damned cases"

It wasn't the first time that he had muttered these words to himself during his tenure in the Auror Corps, but every time Harry Potter always found himself feeling a little guilty about the statement. He couldn't deny the truth in front of him though.

While working a big case, Auror Potter found himself enjoying his job immensely. It wasn't the satisfaction of busting potions rings or locking up smugglers that made it good, he actually found the process of catching them to be astounding, despite being a year into his employment and well past the 'honeymoon period' that many of his colleagues had described.

The fact was however, that paperwork was boring. And there was a lot of it, especially with the bigger cases. In the past year he had been part of a team that had cracked five large cases, including two big players in the potion dealing trade, and one double homicide. The latest, a batch of hallucinogenics that had gone viral, particularly among Quidditch stars, had been busted last Thursday, and the creator of the potions locked away in ministry holding cells for questioning this coming Tuesday; tomorrow.

After a long weekend which he had gladly spent with his fiancée, rising Quidditch talent Ginny Weasley, Harry had found himself dreading his return to work and the amount of reports he'd need to fill in, treble check, quadruple sign and send to various departments over the coming week. Normally, it would take until the Friday afternoon before everything would be completed, and by then, the long weekend would seem so much further away than it actually was.

It didn't help that his partner Ron, who had volunteered to fetch dinner half an hour ago, in order to get away from the paper in front of him, had yet to return, and Harry was starting to debate whether his friend had got lost.

He dipped his quill into his ink once more and started to write about their initial investigations after the first week of potion-interrupted Quidditch matchs, where three of the lower ranking teams in the league had reported seeing dragons, thestrals and even merpeople flying around the pitch alongside their opponents, when he heard a flurry of movement outside his cubicle, and his door was wrenched open. His wand was in his hand and pointing towards the door in an instant, before he realised the intruder was Ron, who looked like he had sprinted from the lift.

"Harry, I've just bumped into Perry, from accidental reversal, he was on his way down here."

Harry's grip on his wand lessened and he breathed out a breath he didn't realise he was holding. If AMRAS (Accidental Magic Reversal and Alteration Squad) had received the call before the Aurors, then whatever Ron had stumbled upon couldn't have been too important.

"Seriously Ron, don't scare me like that. You know last time you burst into my office like that I cursed without warning."

Ron of all people should have known this, he hadn't been able to sit down for three days without wincing.

As if recalling the incident, he flinched, but then continued "Sorry Harry, but it's important. He says he needs you to meet him, come on." And with that, he was gone from the cubicle door.

Harry sighed, stowed his work away into his desk for later, and got up, his leg muscles protesting as he did. Then, he followed after his friend, waving his wand to close and lock his cubicle. Ron was waiting for him by the apparition point.

"Ok, at least tell me where we're going so I don't splinch myself. Do you have coordinates?" he asked.

"No need Harry, you know the way." Ron replied, a note of apprehension in his voice. "We're heading for Privet Drive."

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The two arrived with a pop on the corner of Privet Drive. The street was largely as Harry remembered it, all pristine houses that looked like they were hardly lived in. He couldn't believe he'd used to call this place 'home'. There was nothing homey about it.

"Perry says he won't disturb anything until you get here." Ron explained quickly, and they started to walk towards number four. The house looked untouched, but Harry could trace a faint haze which suggested a concealment charm. A short, balding man, Perry, hurried up to them, looking glad to see the two had arrived.

"Potter, Weasley, thank Merlin you're here. You have no idea how difficult it is to stop these younger trainees from cleaning up all this mess quickly, thinking they'll impress their seniors." He shook his head. "I've set up concealment and very small muggle repelling charms around the house. With it being a muggle neighbourhood, we can't do much more than that. The lads are working on the memories of everyone who saw and heard the explosion."

Harry's eyebrows raised at the last word. An explosion in Privet Drive, with magic involved? This sounded more like Auror work than AMRAS. He didn't question it though, and let Perry continue his report, "she asked for you specifically Potter. Normally we wouldn't get the Aurors out for something like this, but she was adamant you came. Have you dealt with her before?" He asked, curiously.

"You could say that," Harry muttered. It was understandable that his aunt would call on him, as he was the only contact of the wizarding world she had, barring her sister. However, that didn't change the fact that her hatred of wizards was only surpassed by her denial that she was related to one.

"You should be able to see the damage when you enter the garden. I'll leave you to it, call in any help you need, I know you Auror types like to have your own team of healers and investigators."

With that, Perry hurried off to look after his trainees, all of whom looked far too eager to prove that they could handle this without Auror help. Harry and Ron turned to the house.

"Guess we'll see what's happened then." Harry said, and stepped onto the driveway. Instantly, the image before him shifted to one of complete mayhem. Most of the side of the house had been blown completely away, bricks scattered around the garden, which was white with dust. Harry could see the entirety of the living room and front bedroom, his Aunt and Uncle's. The wallpaper was charred and blackened, and there wasn't a single ornament left. It looked a lot like the devastation left after had blown the fireplace up whilst picking him up for the Quidditch World Cup before his fourth year. Harry had to hold back a chuckle at the memory. This was a lot more serious.

Ron had his wand out and was casting a few detection spells at the house. "There's been a huge outburst of magic here. It's like nothing I've seen since the war. There are not many people with this sort of magical power in them, Kingsley perhaps, or you."

"But from the damage, the magic came from inside the house." Harry muttered, and Ron nodded his agreement. Harry was briefly taken back to the house in Godric's Hollow that his parents and he had lived in. This surpassed even that carnage. "Let's go inside."

He gripped his wand tighter and cast a quick spell on the floor of the upstairs, to make sure it would properly hold as they went through, and then stepped over the rubble and into the house. There was a large, black circle in the center of the floor. Inside this circle, there was little damage, save for the carpet being seared completely away.

"The origin of the blast was here. Looks quite large, I'd say like a bomb, but I've not heard of anything that recreates bombs with magic, have you?" Ron shook his head in response.

"Not that you could use in this way anyway, unless the Unspeakables have been working on something new, but I don't know why they would be."

Harry cast around the room once more. Other than the charred circle in the middle, and the destruction around, there was very little left to go on from an investigations standpoint.

"There's nothing else here, let's check the kitchen."

The two walked out of the living room, into the kitchen and paused.

Sitting in front of them, wrapped in a towel and sobbing heavily, was Petunia Dursley. However, the shocking part was her son, Dudley, lying on a conjured medical table, his skin pulsing with a faint, white light.

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**A/N: **Thank you for reading. I don't expect much fanfare from this, as its just an introduction, but your comments will always be greatly appreciated.


	2. Explanations

**A/N:** I was very pleased with the response I received for the first chapter of this, so thank you very much. Here is the second chapter, I hope you enjoy.

This chapter has been heavily edited after a couple of reviews I received. I won't ruin it, but the original version did not portray what I had in my mind clearly enough, so much so that even I stopped believing my own story. However, I sat during a boring shift at work and thought it through, and came up with the analogy Hermione uses in the piece. I truly hope this improves the story.

My thanks once again to seekers_destiny over at SIYE for his beta work on this chapter, and my thanks to SIYE for the challenge that began this story in my head. Finally, a huge thank you to Harold Lloyd (guest reviewer) and Arrowkid21, for their very honest reviews, and for making me improve this chapter.

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Oppression by Association

Chapter 2 – Explanations

Harry sat in the dining room of the house that he never thought he would step foot in again, and found himself actually concerned for his 'family', an emotion he wasn't used to feeling with regards the people who begrudgingly brought him up. The actual well-being of the people in front of him wasn't the main reason for his worry, but the circumstances surrounding them were more than disturbing.

From what he could tell from Petunia's sobbing, the explosion in the lounge had not come from an outside source, but from inside, specifically, from his cousin Dudley. The idea that Dudley had performed magic, especially of this scale, so late in life, was unheard of. So much so, that he had contacted three people he trusted to help him out.

With the extra bodies, the kitchen was rather crowded, but to figure out what had happened, he would need all of them. Firstly, he'd sent a patronus to Poppy Pomfrey, the stern matron who presided over the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Dudley's condition was unknown, beyond the cursory once over that the AMRAS team had given when they had first arrived, and Harry had always found that, while the staff at St. Mungo's were fantastic, nothing could compare to the trust he had in Madam Pomfrey. She had arrived promptly, not required at Hogwarts during the summer, except to brew potions she would need for the coming year.

Secondly, he had sent a message to his former transfiguration teacher and current headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall. Harry had to admit, there was currently too many questions that he didn't have answers to, and he hoped she might be able to shed some light on the situation.

Finally, he had contacted the person who he had relied on since he had joined the magical world at age 11, Hermione Granger – no, Weasley. He still struggled to remember that she had married his other best mate earlier that year. If there was a problem he couldn't figure out, he was sure that she could. She had dropped her work at the Department for Control of Magical Creatures to be here, which, not for the first time, he was glad that most of her work was led by herself, giving her control over her own job, despite how young she was.

That had been over half an hour ago, and other than the initial conversations about what had happened, the room had been silent, allowing Madam Pomfrey to give a full check over the young man in front of her. During the course of her examination, the white glow that had been emanating from Dudley's skin had faded to near nothing, and other than that, he appeared unharmed. He hadn't woken up from his unconscious state yet.

With a final flick of her wand, Pomfrey turned to the rest of the group, and looked around. She gave a soft sigh, before saying "he's just suffering from magical fatigue, though as he is supposed to be a Muggle, I don't understand how. It's almost as though he has acquired a magical core from somewhere, but we all know this is impossible. Such things would have squibs clamouring to get one themselves."

"People are supposed to be born with their magical cores though, and then they develop as they grow older." Hermione said, tenting her fingers together on the table she was sat at, "that's why things like that Kwikspell course are scams, there's no way to make a squib perform magic, they don't have the core to do it. Same with Muggles. So how has Dudley created all of that devastation in the lounge?" Harry could see her forehead crease as she frowned. It seemed to be an impossibility.

"Aunt Petunia," Harry said, amazed at how soft his voice sounded. His public relations training in the Auror program last year had worked it seemed. She looked up, her red rimmed eyes that had long cried themselves out, finding his out. She had managed to compose herself somewhat while the examination of her son was going on. "Have you noticed anything strange with Dudley recently, or at any time? Anything like I used to do?" He avoided the use of the word magic while directly talking to her, seeing as the word would be thrown around the kitchen enough to give her a heart attack as it was.

She appeared to be giving it some thought, but then shook her head. "No, it was just you who showed these freakish behaviours," she said, earning a glare from everyone else in the room. She had the good grace to look guilty at her outburst. Harry simply held up his hand before any of his partners showed any sign of retaliating.

"Aunt Petunia, let me remind you that we are here to help, and my friends and colleagues will not be willing to do this if you insult them." He said in a calm tone, before adding "and remember, you asked for me to come here."

Petunia averted her eyes to the floor and mumbled a small apology. Harry just shook his head in exasperation.

"So, someone who we believed to be a Muggle turns out to actually be a wizard, yet none of us have any clue as to how or why." He announced to the room. He ignored the small gasp that came from his aunt as he said her son was magical. What was done is done, and she'd have to get used to the idea. "Minerva, why wasn't Dudley in Hogwarts if he is magical?"

His former teacher furrowed her brow as she racked her brains for an answer, but she eventually shook her head, "I'm unsure Harry. There is a magical book that keeps a record of every child with a magical core. Squibs and Muggles obviously do not register, but the book has never failed yet. Take Neville for instance. He exhibited no magical qualities until he was almost Hogwarts age, but he was registered from birth. The number of letters his Great Uncle Algie sent to Albus to check the records for whether Neville was a squib or not. But he was always on there. But as for Dudley, I don't know."

Harry groaned in frustration. Discussing it was getting them nowhere. There was only one thing to do. "Poppy, is it safe to wake him up?" She nodded once. "Ok, Ron, can you take Aunt Petunia to the hallway, in case something happens." Ron grabbed his wand and moved to take Petunia's arm to guide her out, but she pulled away, looking fearful.

"No, I want to see what you're doing to my baby." She said defiantly, looking up at her nephew with pleading eyes. Rolling his eyes at her display of affection, Harry motioned to Ron to leave her be.

"Ok, but move over here, away from him, just in case. Ron, can you be ready with a shield charm next to her, so nothing happens." The two swapped to the other side of the kitchen, and Ron stood as sentry with his wand out and pointed in the general direction of the medical bed.

"Hermione, Minerva, I need to ask to you stand by me, in case we have to battle any residual magic. Poppy, can you wake him on my signal, and be ready to move away if anything goes wrong?" Again, he ignored the slight whimper from his aunt behind him. He pulled out his own wand and levelled it at Dudley, watching as Hermione and McGonagall did the same on either side of him. Readying himself, he gave the nod to Poppy, who whisked her wand over Dudley's head and muttered "Reenervate."

Immediately, Dudley's eyes snapped open and he looked around fearfully. Harry immediately recognised the problem he'd created here. Waking up to find four wands pointed at him, after passing out in the confusion from before, Dudley was terrified. In attempting to protect everybody in the area, Harry had probably endangered them all.

To start with, there was nothing, except for Dudley's eyes flicking around the kitchen, taking in everybody around him. When his eyes locked with Harry's, his face lit up in fearful recognition, before his skin began to actually light up once more.

"Protego!" Harry shouted, and the word was repeated around him, until shield charms filled the kitchen. Poppy backed away behind McGonagall's shield, and was swishing her wand through the air, quickly diagnosing what was happening.

"His temperature is rising quickly, as is his heart rate. I can feel the magic reacting once more, but it's a strain. He's not recovered fully yet." She said, keeping her voice level in the way only a professional nurse could.

"Use that to our advantage, his magic won't be as powerful compared to if we woke him later." Ron shouted from the back, as he moved more in front of Petunia, covering her totally with his shield.

Dudley's skin was now glowing brighter than it had when they had discovered him, and his body was starting to convulse slightly, as though holding back a caged beast within him. He continued to stare fearfully into Harry's eyes. The look made something click in Harry's mind.

"Everyone, brace yourself." He said to the people around him. Quickly checking, he saw them widen their stance and their shields became a little more opaque, though still translucent enough that he could see what was happening. He looked back at Dudley, who's frightful gaze still hadn't broken from Harry. He locked eyes with him, before taking a deep breath, hoping he was doing the right thing.

"Let it go Dudley, you're safe." He shouted, noticing for the first time that the air in the room was shifting and the kitchen utensils were rattling noisily. Dudley shook his head sharply, not able to break eye contact. Harry's features softened slightly, and his voice lost its edge, "Please, we're here, you can let go."

Whether he believed the words, or simply because he couldn't hold on any longer, Dudley's head arched back, staring at the ceiling, and he shut his eyes tightly closed. He let out a loud scream the likes of which Harry had never heard, and released hold of whatever he was trying to stop.

The brightness in Dudley's skin seemed to expand outwards, leaving his body entirely and expanding equally all around him. When it had extended around a meter away from his body, he took a deep breath, and screamed again, louder, and the light released entirely.

The room was filled with white, and the force of the release meant that even when they dug their heels in best they could, the three at the front of the group skidded backwards a foot, and Hermione's hair was whipped around, almost hitting Harry in the eye as it went. Ron faired a little better, being further away, and his shield took most of the force.

It lasted barely five seconds, before Dudley's voice gave out, along with the light, which quickly retracted back into his skin and faded to the dull glow he'd had before they woke him. He lay there, panting heavily and shaking, though not convulsing like he was seconds before. He was however, wide awake, and hadn't blacked out this time.

Sensing the real danger had passed, Harry lowered his shield, but kept his wand in his hand. The others around him did the same, and Pomfrey hurried forward to check her patient. After just a few waves of her wand, she looked at the others and stated "Just exhaustion again, seems that this time he used up the last of his reserves. We should be safe now."

Harry relaxed his grip on his wand, and let out a long breath. He'd dealt with people in lots of pain in the field, broken bones and the like, and witnessed people under the Cruciatus curse, but this had seemed much worse. The fact that it was personal, however much his relationship with his family was tainted, just made it worse. He was taken back to listening to Hermione back at Malfoy Manor four years ago. Taking a look around, he could see that Ron had gone very pale, which suggested he too, had been caught in the memory.

Moving forward, Harry joined Poppy at the bed and looked over his cousin. He looked a mess, after two bouts of magical power the likes of which Harry hadn't see for a long time he wasn't really surprised. He was lucky really that his body was able to cope with it, as usually the body needs to be used to magic to use it properly. Dudley's boxing training a few years ago must have really helped him physically cope with the outburst.

"Feeling alright Dudley?" He asked in as calm a voice as he could, trying to manage the fear that he felt. Dudley nodded, albeit slowly, still trying to catch his breath. "You're not in any pain?"

Taking a second to mentally check himself over, Dudley shook his head, and muttered "Ache", before laying his head back heavily on the bed and letting out a huge breath, steadying himself. "Wha' happened?" He asked.

Harry took a quick glance at Madam Pomfrey to ask for permission, which she gave, before saying, "You've surprised us all today Dudley. What just happened is you suffered a magical outburst. The aches and pains you might be feeling are because you're magically exhausted, and your body needs to replenish your magic."

Dudley's eyes went wide at the word magic. Whether this was reaction to the discovery he was magical, or simply because the word was considered taboo in this house was unknown, but Harry thought it was probably a combination of both.

"The question is, how have you had a magical outburst, if you aren't magical?" Harry said, not harshly, but in a way that suggested that Dudley knew more than he was letting on about this. Dudley closed his eyes, as though trying to block out the question. Harry took this as affirmation of his belief, and pushed a little, "This isn't the first time you've used magic, is it?"

Dudley again screwed his face up, but shook his head from side to side. Petunia gave a gasp from somewhere behind Harry, but he ignored her again and instead asked, "What happened?"

Taking a deep breath, Dudley looked up at the ceiling, trying to block out the rest of the room, and spoke, "I think I was nine. It wasn't long after you managed to get on the school roof that one time when we were chasing you. I couldn't believe what I'd seen. So I tried it myself. I stood in the back garden while nobody was around, and jumped. Nothing happened. I tried again and again, willing myself to do something. Just as I was about to give up, one of my jumps took me really high, like, more than it should have high. I probably could have got over the fence into next door."

He screwed his eyes up once more, as if remembering this was painful to him. "I kept trying, and the next time it happened, I managed to get on the garage roof. Took me ten minutes to get down again. So I tried different things, like running faster. And for the next few weeks, I could catch you easier. It was working. I didn't understand what I was doing, but it didn't matter."

Turning his head, he looked into his cousin's eyes, looking truly apologetic, "Then one day, you did something weird. I think you blew the locks off the cupboard door. Anyway, Dad went mad. I can remember you shouting with pain. You came out of the lounge with a cut on your lip and a black eye."

All eyes in the room were on Harry, and he sighed, "I remember. That was the last time your dad hit me. I think the black eye went after a day, but someone from school questioned the cut on my lip."

"I told him no." Petunia said from the back of the room. Harry turned and looked at his aunt, his brow furrowing at the news. "I told him not to hurt you. I might have hated you, and been jealous of my sister, but I couldn't let my husband beat up my flesh and blood."

Harry's eyes widened at the admission, but then he steeled his features and nodded, before turning back to Dudley, motioning for him to continue.

"Suddenly, I didn't want these powers. I didn't want to run faster or jump higher or anything. So I shut them down. I never used them again, and stopped thinking that I could do them. Even when you were told you were a wizard, I never tried to use them again. I wanted to kill them." He said quietly.

Harry looked at his cousin sympathetically, something he didn't imagine could ever happen. Dudley, while he hadn't cared about Harry, had been just as fearful of his uncle as he had. He suddenly found himself becoming angry about his Uncle's behaviours, and how they had affected people's lives around him. He wondered whether his aunt had encountered anything that had scarred her like he and Dudley had.

"It doesn't work like that though," Harry said, looking Dudley in the eye. "Look at Uncle Vernon. He tried to stamp magic out of me for years, it never worked. If you suppressed your magic, and didn't train it like wizards should, it's going to grow at the normal rate, but eventually it'll be uncontrollable."

"So that's what happened then?" Ron asked, still standing near Petunia, but looking much more relaxed than when he was guarding her. She herself had started sobbing once more at the tale. "Dudley suppressed his magic so long that it needed letting out, anyway it could?" Hermione nodded, coming to this conclusion herself. She had really caused Ron to gain a clinical mind over the years they were dating, especially combined with the Auror training he had received.

"It doesn't explain why he never went to Hogwarts though." Harry said "He has a magical core, he should have been in the books"

"Perhaps it does though," Hermione said, looking excited, as though she had realised something important. "Professor, if a young witch or wizard dies before they reach the age they would receive the Hogwarts letter, is one sent anyway?" She asked McGonagall, talking rapidly.

McGonagall merely looked shocked at the idea, "Of course not. Rowena Ravenclaw made the book so that letters would not be sent to those children who were deceased. The last thing the parents would need is their child's Hogwarts letter turning up on their doorstep."

If anything, this only seemed to make Hermione happier, and she turned back to Harry. "You've just seen that Dudley's magic appears pretty strong, despite being a late bloomer. Dudley's previous experiences with magic were simply a case of 'wish, and you shall obtain'. He asked his magic to do something, and it reacted in such a way as it happened, like in most children."

"Yeah, so?" Ron asked from the back of the room, not looking like he was entirely following where his wife was heading. His clinical mind was newly developed after all.

"So, Dudley said he wanted to 'kill' his powers. His magic can't actually kill itself, as that would probably kill Dudley too, nor could it remove itself from Dudley in anyway." She answered, rolling her eyes at Ron. "My bet is it did the only thing it could, it blocked itself, sealing away the core from anything and everything, and essentially killing itself from the outside world. The book probably measured its magical core as dying, and thus erased him from its pages, as though Dudley himself had died. Now that its back, he's probably back on the records, though obviously, Dudley will not receive a letter, as he is not eleven."

"Meanwhile," she continued, as the rest of the room contemplated this, "his magical core received no training, and thus, grew wild inside its cocoon, eventually breaking free and here we are. Accidental magic happens in spikes, and this spike was just too much pressure for the cocoon to handle."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. Judging by the huge outburst of power he'd seen earlier, Dudley was a very powerful wizard in his own right. The outburst was probably magnified from years of his magic building without any form of outlet, but it still showed something within the higher echelon of magical power. Sealing away his own magic would take a tremendous amount of power, but magic could seal other people's powers, so it stood to reason it could block itself.

"So, in summary, Dudley locked away his magic from everything, including himself, from age nine onwards. Now, aged twenty-one, it has built up for twelve years, and finally smashed through the barriers he created and poured out of his system, having nowhere to go."

Looking around, everyone seemed to agree with this assessment.

"Ok, well, I guess we need to teach Dudley about the wizarding world."

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**A/N:** And so this concludes chapter 2. Now you've read it, the issues that reviewers had previously asked why Dudley did not receive a letter, as he had a magical core. Simply stating he "blocked it" doesn't change that he'd have received a letter from birth, but the analogy that Hermione uses about death is actually what I meant, that he blocked it so it was wiped from the books. Additional comments to this, or any other, end are always welcome.


	3. Decisions

**A/N:** Welcome to chapter three. This chapter was a pain to write. Actually, that's a lie, it wasn't once I got my head around what I actually wanted to put down. The first draft of this chapter however, was scrapped immediately after I finished, because I hated it. I then left it a few days and had a think, and came up with this, which I'm much happier with. At the end of the chapter, I'll be revealing the task set in the challenge on SIYE, which is properly shown in this chapter.

My thanks again goes to seekers_destiny over at SIYE for his beta work on this chapter. I will learn to capitalise Muggle one of these days.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own Lord of the Rings, which gets a vague mention in this chapter.

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Oppression By Association

Chapter 3 – Decisions

"No, I refuse to let him go to that freaky school of yours."

Harry sighed heavily and looked around the plain Muggle café they had chosen as their meeting place. Fortunately, the place didn't seem to be all that popular, judging by the fact that even the staff behind the counter had done a bunk as soon as they had brought over their coffees, of which Harry had ordered an extra strong one in anticipation of his Aunt's reaction. Judging from the impatient clucking next to him, Ginny was wishing she had done the same.

The previous night had been uneventful. Madam Pomfrey had deemed Dudley to be as safe as could be, given the circumstances, claiming that his magical core was far too fatigued to be of much use for a few days. Indeed, it wasn't just the core that was tired, Dudley had barely managed to sit through the explanations of what was to happen to him without falling asleep.

Harry had agreed to take him to his flat, just in case something was to happen. The apartment was only a two bedroom affair, something he'd insisted on having in the early stages of his relationship with Ginny, if only to appease her mother. The second bedroom had never been used except for storage, but Molly didn't need to know that. Now they were engaged, it seemed widely accepted that they'd share a room anyway, but the two had still stayed in their own houses until they were ready to be married. After quickly gathering Dudley's things together, and concocting a suitable lie to Vernon, (Dudley was at an out of town house party, something which was apparently a regular occurrence anyway), Harry had apparated his cousin to his flat, keyed him into the wards, and quickly tidied the spare room, allowing Dudley to get some proper rest. Since then, he had slept right until Harry had awoken him just an hour ago to go meet with Petunia to decide what to do.

"Aunt Petunia, it would be best. Who else to teach him how to harness his magic but the teachers at school?" Harry asked, keeping his tone hushed in case the lazy waitress decided to actually do some work.

Petunia looked like there was a bad smell under her nose, something Harry was very used to over the years, but he couldn't say he'd missed it, "No, that place just changes people, it doesn't teach anything worthwhile. Frog spawn and eye of newt and all of that rubbish, that won't help Dudley at Grunnings."

There was a small groan from beside her as Dudley put his face in his hands. Harry got the distinct impression that Petunia's view of Dudley's future was a lot different from Dudley's himself.

"Life won't be the same Mrs. Dursley." Ginny said, managing to keep an even tone despite her obvious annoyance at the woman, "Like it or not, Dudley is magical. He is part of our world now, and he's got to at least learn how to actually control his magic before he decides if he wants to stay mostly in your world or ours. Not doing so puts him and others in danger." Harry nodded his agreement and gave her hand a quick squeeze.

He'd filled Ginny in on the events of the previous day last night while Dudley slept off his exhaustion. She had seemed incredibly shocked at first, but that soon passed, and soon she was discussing potential ideas for what they could do with Dudley. Enlisting the help of the Hogwarts staff was the first option that either of them had come up with, but this had been shot down instantly.

"Still, I won't even be able to talk to him. How will Dudley cope without me?" Petunia asked, her voice quavering, as though she was discussing a week old baby, not a twenty one year old man more than double her size. Again Dudley groaned, casting a look around the café for anyone looking. He seemed resigned to the fact that he was going to have to deal with his overbearing mother in front of his cousin and very attractive girlfriend already.

Harry couldn't resist a small snort of laughter, before saying, "Trust me, the House Elves do a more than adequate job of looking after those living at Hogwarts."

"House Elves!" Petunia said loudly, before lowering her voice at the glares she received from Harry and Ginny. "I will not have my son looked after by a bunch of pointy-eared Legolas'"

Harry didn't quite understand what a Legolas was, but assumed it was a Muggle elf from something. It was enough to make him lose his temper however. "What do you suggest then?"

Petunia looked shocked at his tone, before sitting back and appearing defeated. Just as Harry was about to turn to Dudley to ask his opinion, she spoke up, looking triumphant. "He can just live with you. You have a spare bed in your house. And you can bring him home for supper every night."

Both Harry and Ginny looked gobsmacked at her, as though she'd just said some horrible expletive, before looking at each other, working out the implications of having a third person in the house. The two weren't the best at remembering silencing charms, something which Ron could testify to.

"No way!" Harry said, finding his voice first, before deciding this argument wasn't going to go his way if he lost his cool. Thinking quickly, he said, "we've got work, we couldn't keep an eye on him nearly as much as we'd need to. He needs lots of lessons to catch up with his magical potential."

"Then your friends, the bushy haired girl and her – whatsit – what about them."

This time, Harry and Ginny just laughed openly. This was a much easier argument when they weren't embarrassed like before.

"Mrs. Dursley, Hermione and her husband, Ron, are newlyweds, and Hermione has recently discovered that the only thing she prefers to reading long, boring books, is sex. I don't think Dudley will want to be placed in that environment, would you Dudley?" She asked, smiling. The young man could only shake his head repeatedly.

If Petunia was shocked at Ginny's statement, she didn't show it, and continued, "Someone else then. Someone who can teach him and get him to control his fr- thing – and who actually has time for him."

Harry thought about this for a second. The ideal person to take in Dudley would be a Muggleborn, or failing that, a half blood with good knowledge of the Muggle world. He looked over at his fiancée and saw she had a large grin on her face.

"I've got it," she said, looking at Dudley. "Dud, we're gonna set you up with a girl."

* * *

"POTTER!"

Dudley's voice seemed incredibly loud against the stillness of the flat, as it woke Harry from his slumber. Loud footfalls could be heard stomping across the living room floor outside, getting louder as they approached. His eyes widening with recognition, Harry quickly grabbed his wand, shoving a newly awoken Ginny from his bare chest. Aiming quickly, he muttered "colloportus", and was happy to hear a soft squelch that informed him his spell had worked, which was backed up by a thud as something very heavy hit the door, and the door handle began moving frantically.

"Harry, what's going on?" Ginny asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She sat up on the bed, covering her modesty with the sheets, and looking at her fiancé, who had already pulled on his boxers and was reaching for his trousers.

"Looks like Dudley got back from his date early." Harry said. He couldn't help the small grin that crossed his face. The pounding on the door continued at a frantic rate, amongst shouts of what Dudley was going to do when he got his hands on Harry, "and it sounds like it went well."

It had been a week since they had met with Dudley and Petunia at the café near Little Whinging, and the two had not had any success in finding anyone who could take in Dudley. Not for lack of trying however, this was Dudley's third date in five days, a feat that many guys would have been rather proud of. However, the actual quality of the dates had left something to be desired.

Lavender was first. Ginny's suggestion of using Ron's ex-girlfriend may or may not have been a real suggestion for a solution to their problem, but the results were that, with Lavender being an incredible flirt and Dudley being very new to the concept of a relationship, the meal that they had gone on was quickly forgotten, and the rather uneventful one night stand would be too. Lavender had left Dudley a note the next morning saying never to call again, and that it was without a doubt, the worst shag she'd ever had.

The second one had been a real suggestion. Tracy Brook was a member of Harry's Auror team that had recently taken a rather bad injury, leading to her being stuck with desk duty for the next few weeks. She was a little older, just two years shy of thirty, and was a fantastic teacher, who had taken Harry and Ron under her wing quickly and shown them lots of things that they would use for years to come in the Auror division. She did however, have the unfortunate quality of being rather dull, and Dudley had fallen asleep during her story about her father's chicken ranch in Staffordshire, which was about as appealing to Dudley as looking after the damned things himself would be.

"Oh yeah, really well." Ginny said sarcastically, "who did you set him up with this time?"

Harry didn't have time to answer, as the banging had stopping and the door handle glowed slightly, before being tugged down and allowing Dudley entrance to the bedroom. The young man was red faced, and appeared to be a mixture of embarrassed and enraged.

"Potter, get here you bastard. You knew what she was like didn't you!?" He roared, and lunged for his cousin. Harry expertly dodged by rolling over the foot of the bed, narrowly avoiding rolling over Ginny's legs, and took off, still without his shirt on, out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

"Who did he send you out with Dudley?" Ginny asked, wondering what could have put him in such a bad mood. In the week he'd been living at Harry's, she'd discovered he actually was anything like she had expected. He could be a real spoilt brat every now and again, but he seemed a lot more respectful than Harry had ever made out.

Dudley turned to her and seemed to calm slightly, perhaps from the fact that she was still only draped in a bedsheet. "I – uh – her name was Romilda, I think." He said, slightly stupidly.

Ginny burst out laughing. She'd only suggested Romilda Vane as a joke, saying she would be more than helpful when it came to doing Harry a favour, but she'd have been the worst date imaginable. "He didn't? Merlin, how bad was she?"

"All she did was talk about Harry." Dudley said, sitting on the bed and placing his head in his hands. Ginny was unsure if he was truly embarrassed, or it was just to stop himself staring at her. Going through this embarrassment, then having the knowledge that your cousin had been having sex while you were going through it wasn't the best combination. "She just asked everything, literally, everything. It started off just being a conversation we could both relate to, but after about two minutes, it became really awkward. It was like being interviewed for a dirty magazine or something."

Ginny laughed again, and patted Dudley on the back. "Maybe it was. She does write for Witch Weekly, so you might find yourself spreading stories about Harry all over the gossip section."

Dudley groaned heavily into his hands. "That's if she remembers. When I tried to change subject, she just got bored and started drinking. Three shots of pumpkin vodka later and she was chatting up the barman. As I left, I saw them heading into the back room. I can only guess why."

Harry took this moment to poke his head around the door frame, sensing the danger had passed from the lack of shouting. "I'm sorry Dudley, I hoped she had changed, but clearly she's just as bad as I remember. I promise, the next one won't be so bad."

There was a wooshing sound from the front room. Harry quickly grabbed his shirt and stuck his head through, before heading for the fireplace to take the floo call.

"Hiya Hannah, everything ok?"

Hannah Abbot had been dating Neville Longbottom now for nearly a year. The two had met properly one night at the Leaky Cauldron, where she worked, and they talked about Herbology for the rest of the evening, both having a mutual love for the subject. Neville had offered to get her on one of the courses that he was doing, research into foreign species of plants and their medicinal effect, and the two had taken a field trip together soon after, returning two months later very happily in love. Harry could only assume that Hannah would become Hannah Longbottom very soon. Harry and Ginny were expecting to be asked to be best man and bridesmaid when they did.

"Yeah, everything's fine thanks Harry. Neville's just told me what you said about your cousin. Have you managed to find him anyone yet?"

Harry shook his head in response, and allowed her to continue, "He asked me if I knew anyone from working at the Leaky or anything. There's a few I can think of, but there's one who could definitely help, and she's really nice."

"Oh, who would that be then? Do I know her?" Harry asked, intrigued as to who she might have found.

"You weren't close, but you remember Susan Bones, right?" Hannah asked, and Harry nodded, "She's recently trained to do teaching. After the war, she spent a lot of time working with orphaned children and such, seeing as her family was all taken from her by Voldemort. She found she really enjoyed working with the kids, so she's been working with Professor Flitwick for the last couple of years. I think the plan is for her to take over the Charms position when Flitwick decides he's had enough. I mean, Flitwick's not exactly young is he? He's taught at Hogwarts since my gran's time there."

Harry made a soft noise to let her know he'd heard and turned away from her, shouting over his shoulder, "Dudley, can you come here please?"

A couple of seconds later, Dudley appeared in the doorway, and looked confused at Harry kneeling in front of the fireplace, before giving a loud yelp of surprise when he saw the pretty brunnete's head floating in the fire. This caused Hannah to burst out laughing, her head bobbing up and down rapidly, causing Dudley to stare even more.

"Oh, he really is new to the wizarding life isn't he?" Hannah said when she had regained her composure. "Dudley, you've got a lot to learn if floo calls surprise you like that." She then turned to Harry with a smile, "Susan's technically a half blood, but her family has always been very knowledgeable, not to mention powerful. She learnt from a young age about Muggles and magic together. She could probably have passed Muggle studies in her first year if she wanted. With her Aunt being so high in the Ministry, her family always wanted to know both sides of the galleon, so to speak."

Harry nodded. Everything sounded really good. Dudley would have everything he'd need if he went to live with Susan. A knowledgeable teacher who had spent the last few years helping disadvantaged people to get by after the war. From his own memories of Susan, he knew she was a very kind person, perhaps somewhat clumsy, but with a good heart. When her family had been murdered by Death Eaters in the war, she clearly hadn't let it rule her life, and instead dedicated herself to righting the wrongs in the world, much like he had himself.

Making up his mind, he turned to Dudley and said, "How about it, you feeling up to another date today? I promise Susan is nice."

Dudley pulled a face at the idea of going on another of these disastrous dates, but he knew it was probably the only thing that could help him right now. "Sure, I'll give it a go."

"Excellent, I'll get in touch with her Harry. Oh, and Dudley, I hope you like redheads." Hannah said, smiling as she popped out of the fireplace.

* * *

**A/N: **There it is, the challenge is revealed. The Dudley's Turn challenge on SIYE was quite simple. Petunia notices signs of accidental magic in Dudley, and calls on Harry to help out. They decide the best way to help Dudley is to set him up with a girl who knows enough of the Muggle world that she will understand Dudley, but can teach him to control his magic. Due to this challenge being more about the romance side of things, It's not going to be taken very far, like some people have been wondering. I don't really think there's much you can do with it after around 6-7 chapters, so it'll probably be around that length, with an Epilogue maybe.

Thank you for reading, and as always, your comments are greatly appreciated.


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